Stress tests are the main practical tools of macroprudential oversight. This paper reviews the stress-testing practices of central banks in Central and South Eastern Europe (CSEECBs) and outlines the challenges in the area of stress testing going forward. The authors discuss good practice and...

The Russian banking sector includes approximately 1,000 banks, but is it competitive? This paper analyzes bank competition in Russia during 2002-2008. The authors examine indicators of concentration and contestability, and compute non-structural measures of competition. They compare competition...

Drawing on the lessons from the global financial crisis and especially from its impact on the banking systems of Eastern Europe, the paper proposes a new practical approach to macroprudential stress testing. The proposed approach incorporates: (i) macroeconomic stress scenarios generated from...

Equilibrium credit is an important concept because it helps identify excessive credit provision. This paper proposes a two-stage approach to determine equilibrium credit. It uses two stages to study changes in the demand for credit due to varying levels of economic, financial and institutional...

In crisis times, depositors get anxious, can run on banks, and withdraw their deposits. Correlated withdrawals of bank deposits could be mitigated if bank deposits are more diversified, that is, held by more individuals. This paper examines the link between the broader access to bank deposits...